The Marked. And man there's a lot of Silas.
"Based on what I know, you will find my training hard. It will be your hell, and it shall produce heaven."
“Selfish? I call it survival oriented.”
“Don’t mind them. They’re just jealous,” Sam said.
“Seriously?”
“Hell,'' she laughed, “even I’m jealous!”
“This is the way we do things,” Silas said quietly.
“You can’t do this! He has parents!”
“You don’t think I know what you’re feeling!” he shouted. “I know it all.” His normally cool voice twisted into a bitter venom. “Every. Single. Thing.”
He took a deep breath with his eyes closed. “We shouldn’t be with each other right now.”
And there was something in his voice that almost sounded like compassion as he said “Leave. Come back tomorrow. We’ll see about your lessons later.”
“Do not let the sadness linger. It will consume you. Revenge is the only answer.” Rune looked at her seriously. “That is something we all learn here sooner or later.”
“Perfect,” he whispered softly, “It’s still alive.”
"So are you going to tell me what happened to your face?"
"That's a very special story I save for my closest enemies. I usually like to demonstrate what happened instead of explaining it."
"…..Ah. Point taken."
Drink this."
"What does it do?"
"A little herbal brew I made. It'll boost your immune system a bit–wouldn't want you to get sick or infected while this is healing. Drink it quick, it don't taste great."
The young man obligingly downed the medicine, seeming to be in a better mood than when he'd arrived. "Ah, it's not so bad. One time when there was a drought I had to drink some rain water from a stump. That was so bad I had to barf it back up."
"…Great. I…really wanted to know that."
"I'm taking you in on the condition that you don't interfere, no matter what happens. Agreed?"
I nodded. "With all due respect, ma'am, I've done this before. You won't even notice I'm there."
"Hm. Maybe not….but it definitely will. And believe me, that's what counts."
Would you like a girl's name or a boy's name?"
"A what?"
"'Boy' and 'girl' are two different genders. We assign each name a gender, and usually we stick to it, but not always. By the way, your body is male–or a boy's–so usually we'd give you a boy's name, but I thought I'd let you pick."
"Okay….yes….fine. I don't know what is boy or what is girl, and I don't think I like them. But I will be what you say I am. For now."
"How's it look out there? See anybody? I wanna get this done before it's time to eat."
"Hey, hey, watch your head! They still have a sniper gun, remember? And you're wearing that–oh hell, how'd you get your stupid orange hat back? Ma told you she was burning it!"
"I can't let her burn it! It's lucky!"
"Lucky? Lucky for whoever's trying to shoot you, maybe. And I don't see a soul, since you asked. They must be taking the second or third route."
"Oh, is it Tuesday already? I thought it was Monday. Those snakes aren't trying to break the rules, are they?"
"It's Wednesday, Unc. They're right on schedule. Now stop trying to do my job for me and focus on your own, okay?"
"Are you asking me to hook up with you at an Olive Garden?"
"No, I'm asking you to marry me!"
“You’re kidding, right? You’ve got to be kidding. Because those two were trying to get me to propose, so I’m asking you to marry me.”
“Noted. But I proposed first, so mine holds more weight.”
“My dear Signora Arguzia, I think I’ve wanted to propose longer.”
“Bet. I’ve wanted to since last New Year’s.”
“So have I!”
“Then we’re equal!”
“I guess we are!”
“So you’re jealous then."
“If you want me to admit jealousy over the fact that the two of you are being sent off to die in the Woods, you ought to hurry up and do so, if only to avoid suffering years of waiting met with silence.”
“How’d it go?”
“As well as you’d expect. She professed her undying love for me, if you must know.”
“Don’t kid, Percy."
“Alright. She said that I should temper myself to avoid injury, and that if I got myself killed, she’d find a way for you two to summon my ghost. It was all rather emotional.”
“Summoning ghosts? And here I thought that Alessandra was the logical one."
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